


Trouble

by Raven052



Series: Trouble [1]
Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Fandom, M/M, Pregnancy, Rumour, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-28
Updated: 2015-02-19
Packaged: 2018-03-09 12:25:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3249596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raven052/pseuds/Raven052
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A rumour is quickly spreading about Gerard.<br/>The effects are felt throughout the band, and the fandom.<br/>Is there a way to quickly get to the truth? And even when they have the truth, is everyone willing to listen?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Rumour

The signing event at the comic shop had been a huge success, though completely exhausting.  
Gerard enjoyed meeting fans, and he liked that they wanted to talk to him so much. It was nice, but he had to admit, he missed sitting with the rest of the guys too. They always had a more fun when it was all of them at a signing. But, this one was about the comics, not the band.  
Gerard had been sat for nearly four hours and was glad to finally be able to get up and stretch his legs. 

He stopped a little while longer, and chatted with some of the staff, before saying he really should be getting back to the rest of the band now. They’d been waiting for him, hanging out in the local area and generally trying to waste a little time. 

Just as he was leaving, he saw Mikey, waiting for him in the doorway.  
He smiled, pleased it was Mikey who’d come to meet him.  
“Hey, Mikes. How-”  
“Gee.” Mikey interrupted. “Okay… Um. Sorry, I don‘t mean to spring this on you, but, I think you need to know, as soon as possible.”  
Gerard kept his smile fixed on his face, though it faltered, just slightly. A frown formed. Suddenly the joy and love he’d been feeling from his recent fan encounters felt like it was ebbing away.  
“Wh-What is it, Mikey?”  
Mikey chewed his lip, and glanced around both inside the store, and out on the street. “Uh. Gee, do these guys have, like, a back room we can use? You might… Not want people overhearing this.”  
Gerard’s smile disappeared, replaced entirely by a frown, a look and feeling of dread and concern.  
“Mikey… You’re scaring me now, what is it?” 

Since his brother was making no moves to look for someplace else to do this, Mikey again fidgeted, glancing around them once more, fiddling with something in his hands.  
That’s when Gerard caught sight of it. The newspaper.  
Gerard snorted as he took the paper from Mikey. “Oh, what, someone mouthing off about us again? Big deal. What’d they say this time? That I’m actually Satan trying to lead all the teenagers into hell? C’mon, Mikey. We don’t-”  
He stopped, abruptly, as he looked down at the page.  
His mouth dried up. And he tried to make the words make sense.

“Gee.” Mikey said, coaxingly.  
Gerard just stared at the page, motionless.  
“Gee. Please. Okay, let’s go someplace, so we can talk about this. We don’t have to do this here. Gee. C’mon.”

Gerard continued to stare at the page. The article in question took up the lower half of the page. To the left of the page, there was a picture of a young girl, 18 according to the caption box. She had blonde hair streaked with black, and was wearing one of their t-shirts, and sporting Frank’s crosses make-up around her eyes. The picture had been taken in her room, and numerous posters of them could be seen in the background.  
In centre, there was a picture of him, from 2005, dressed up like a Priest, hands clasped in front of him, smiling sweetly. The caption that went along with his picture read-  
‘An immaculate conception? We think not.’  
And then, the headline-  
Way Takes The Romance Too Far?

“Gerard!” Mikey snapped, the fact that his brother hadn’t replied, hadn’t said a word, hadn’t seemed to react at all was only making this worse.  
Finally Gerard looked up. He looked horrifically pale. He shook his head.  
“No. No. This is not… This is not true! I-”  
“Okay.” Mikey interrupted, sensing, as he always can with his brother, that Gerard was losing it. Losing the calm, collect that he had.  
“Okay.” He repeated, his voice soothing now, as he reached out, and took the paper from Gerard. “Let’s get you out of here. Let’s get back to the others.”  
Mikey reached out a hand to take Gerard’s, to lead him away.  
“Why?” Gerard said. “Why would they-”  
Mikey shook his head, dismissively. “Look, I don’t know Gee. Maybe she just really want’s attention or something.” He tried to pull Gerard further down the street, get him back to where everyone else was waiting for him, but Gerard wouldn’t budge.  
“You believe me, don’t you, Mikey? You believe me when I say this isn’t true, right? I- I didn’t. Mikey. Mikey I wouldn’t.”  
Mikey came back to him then, close, both his hands going to brush back Gerard’s hair. He saw the worry in Gerard’s eyes, the hurt. He nodded.  
“I know you wouldn’t, Gee. But… It’s not me that needs to be convinced. I… I’m afraid we can’t ignore this one and hope it goes away.”  
Gerard closed his eyes, and nodded, then, finally allowed his brother to lead him away. 

Everyone was sat in the hotel lobby, waiting for the Way brothers to return.  
As soon as they did, Gerard felt the tension weigh heavily on him.  
“Well?” The manager said, as soon as they sat down. He was staring right at Gerard, with an intensity that made Gerard feel very, very small, and very vulnerable.  
“Did you show him, Mikey?”  
Mikey nodded. “I showed him.”  
“This mess is already all over the official message boards! I haven’t even checked the other social media sites, but once it get’s there it’s going to be-”

Without warning, Frank, who had been sat in a chair off by himself, arms crossed and face like thunder, stood up and marched off down the corridor.  
“Frank!” The manager snapped at him. “Get back here now! We are having a band meeting and-”  
Gerard was out of his seat now, following Frank.  
“Gerard! Sit the fuck down!”  
“I’m going to talk to Frank!” Gerard yelled back at him.  
“No.” Their manager argued. “You are going to sit the fuck down and explain to me how this shit happened! Gerard!” 

Gerard ignored him completely, and almost jogged down the corridor to catch up with Frank.  
He snagged Frank’s elbow, only to have his hand thrown off again.  
“Frank.” He said, coaxingly. Frank continued on ahead of him, so Gerard grabbed him more firmly by the arm, pulled him back.  
“Fuck. Frank, what the hell?”  
Finally, Frank turned to him. The look on his face was a mix of hurt and anger. His eyes slightly shining with tears. Again, he shrugged off Gerard’s hand, but didn’t run off again.  
“What the hell?” Frank repeated back to him, mimicking Gerard’s question to him. “You’re asking me what the hell? I should be the one asking what the hell! I’m the one who just read that my fucking boyfriend knocked up a fucking fan!”  
Gerard’s eyes went wide, his voice hushed with disbelief. “You… You don’t… Believe what that girl said, do you?”  
Frank bowed his head, eyes pinched tight closed as he squeezed the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “Just… Just tell me… Just tell me it’s not true, Gee.”  
Gerard was silent, staring at Frank with disbelief.  
“I shouldn’t have to tell you. Frank, you should know me well enough by now to know-”  
“Just tell me Gerard!” Frank snapped. “Maybe yes. Maybe I should know it, and maybe I do know it, but maybe I just need to hear you tell me anyway!”  
Gerard stepped closer, reached his hands out, to the tops of Frank’s arms, rubbing up and down gently.  
“Frank. You know me. You know I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t treat a fan so poorly.”  
He leant forward, again, and gently kissed Frank’s temple. “I wouldn’t treat you so poorly.”  
He leant down a little more, and kissed Frank’s lips, gently, pleased as Frank kissed back.  
“I love you.” Gerard told him, softly.  
Frank nodded. “I love you too. I’m… I’m sorry. I just. I got scared.”  
Gerard laughed, softly. “Join the club.” 

They walked back, hand in hand, and sat back down with the others.  
“Well, great. The love birds are happy.” The manager said, sarcastically. “Meanwhile, this pregnancy crap is spreading across the internet, fast now. Gerard, care to explain what the fuck is going on?”  
Gerard shook his head. “Honestly? I have no idea. I recognise the girl, we met her after one of the shows. But that’s it.”  
“Really? That’s it? Sure you didn’t” He pauses to pick up the newspaper to read directly from it. “Take her back to your hotel room and make love to her until the early hours of the morning?”  
To that, Frank snorted. “Well, fuck. If you’d read me that part, I could’ve told you this girl was lying straight away.”  
“Hey!” Gerard protested.  
Frank ignored him. “Gee gets all snuggly and shit after sex. He’s like a teddy bear for the rest of the night. End of.”  
While there was snickering from some of the other band mates, Mikey grimaced, and Gerard blushed, heavily.  
Their manager merely raised an eyebrow. “Thank you for that insight, Frank, but I doubt Gerard is going to want to use that as defence.”  
Gerard blushed harder. “I’d… Rather not.”  
Waving his hand dismissively, the manager continued again. “Okay, so she’s saying this was after a gig. Gerard, the easiest way to defend yourself is to say what you were really doing that night.”  
If possible, Gerard blushed more, and sank back against the couch.  
“Um.” Frank said, with a small grin. “That… Would be me.”  
Gerard hid his face in his hands, and just possibly laughed a little.  
Their manager stared at them both. “Great. So what you’re telling me is, that instead of having sex with this fan, you were in fact having sex with Frank? Well. Wonderful. That fixes everything!”  
Gerard raised his head. “Well. Why don’t we use this as an excuse to finally… You know. Come clean about it all? The fans pretty much know anyway, why don’t we make it public that me and Frank are seeing each other?”  
“So you can go from being in the papers for knocking up a young fan, to being in the papers for screwing your band mate? No. We cannot fight this with more… Sex.”  
“It’s not sex! It’s love!” Gerard protested.  
The manager sat forward, and said, very seriously. “Gerard. If you tell people there’s no way you got this girl pregnant because the night of supposed conception you were in your hotel room, with your band mate, who also happens to be your boyfriend, all anyone is going to hear is ‘sex, sex, sex’. You can paint as many hearts on it as you like, but no one is going to hear love, all they will hear, all they will see is sex.”

Gerard scowled, and looked away, his arm curling, protectively around Frank, who in turn, wrapped his arm around Gerard’s shoulders. 

The manager sat back, heavily, and sighed. “We’ll think of something… Everyone. Go back to your rooms. We head off early in the morning, and we’re all going to need the rest.”  
##

It was late by the time they got up to their rooms. Despite the instructions given to them, the guys ended up staying down in the bar, trying to keep their minds off the troubling topic. 

It’d been difficult, not least of all for Gerard, who kept glancing at the newspaper left on the table.  
Frank eventually spotted him doing this, and swiped the paper from the table, holding it on his lap, out of sight.  
Gerard closed his eyes, and reached out his hand to Frank.  
Despite knowing exactly what the article said, he couldn’t help the urge to read it again.  
Maybe he hoped the words would change.  
Before Gerard could get close to the paper though, Frank grabbed his hand, a squeezed it tight.  
Gerard leant forward, his free hand pressed close against his forehead. 

“You okay, Gee?” Ray asked, gently. Though they’d all been trying their best to avoid the subject, there was no longer room to ignore Gerard’s distress. 

Silently, Gerard shook his head. Again, Frank squeezed his hand. 

“This will all get sorted really fast, Gerard. You know that. And you know the truth. We know the truth.” 

Gerard grimaced. “And while we wait for it to get fixed everyone’s going to believe I-”  
He paused, jaw clenching as he tried to process this. Tried to understand the things that were likely being said about him. He shook his head. Pushing his chair back, Gerard got to his feet, letting go of Frank’s hand in the process.  
“I’m not… I think I’ve gotta be alone for a while guys, sorry.” 

He left as the others all called out goodnights to him, mumblings that they hoped he’d feel better in the morning, assurances that everything was going to be alright. 

Frank stood to follow him, but Mikey grabbed his arm.  
“Frank. He said ‘alone’.” Mikey said gently, but firmly.  
Frank rolled his eyes and smiled, just a bit. He didn’t sit down. “That’s not exactly applied to me for a while.”  
Mikey yanked on his arm and Frank was almost thrown back on his seat.  
Frank glared at him, and Mikey glared right back. “It might not always apply to you, like it doesn’t always apply to me. But it applies to both of us now. Gerard wants time to think this over, get it straight in his head. A fan has accused him of something very serious, and that hurts. I’m sure you understand that.”  
Frank nodded. “I do understand that. Which is why I want to go with him. He needs someone to lean on right now. Someone to comfort him, someone-”  
“Frank! Would you stop arguing with me on this? Let him be, just for a little while.”  
Frank shook his head, and stood up once again. “No. Because if he’s left to think this over too much, he’ll wind himself into a worse mess. I’m not going to let that-”  
This time, Mikey stood up too, and, briefly apologising to the others, he dragged Frank further away from the table. 

“Alright. Enough. Enough of this damn show you’re putting on, Frank. You’re going to end up making this worse. For yourself, and for Gerard.”

Frank laughed, though not convincingly. “I don’t know what-”  
“You are just as fucking scared of this as he is, and I know it. You are terrified of what will happen to him, and, believe me, I am too. But you cannot let him see that. And. I know you feel guilty.”  
Frank’s eyes went wide, mouth open to protest.  
“I-”  
“You feel guilty because, even for a second, you believed what was in that article. You allowed yourself to believe that it was true. And you were mad.”  
Frank shook his head, furiously, his jaw clenching.  
“No. No. Of course I didn’t. I knew exactly where Gerard was that night. He was with me. So-”  
“You didn’t know that right away! And, I get it. You were reacting with your heart rather than your head. Your love for Gerard made you react with fear and jealousy, rather than with rational consideration of the facts.”  
Frank shook his head. “No. No. I knew. I know Gee… I know. I know he wouldn’t.” He closed his eyes, and sighed heavily. “I know he wouldn’t… Hurt anyone like that.” 

Mikey looked at Frank now, his head down, looking almost as tired and strained as Gerard had.  
“You know what… Go on. Go to him. Just. Just be gentle with him, would you?”  
Frank nodded, and rushed to head up to the room. 

He paused outside the door, to collect himself. To be able to put on the brave front he needed to show Gerard. 

##

Gerard had tried, and failed, to sleep. He’d thrown on some nightwear and buried himself under the covers.  
But his mind wouldn’t shut off.  
He wondered exactly what had been said about him. He’d skimmed the article, and the basic idea was clear.  
The article said that he’d brought the girl back to a hotel room.  
That they’d had sex. More than once.  
That he’d paid for her taxi home the next morning.  
And that, two weeks ago, she’d found out she was pregnant. That he was the only person she’d slept with, so he was the only possible father. 

One line stuck with him.  
“I’m not very far along yet, so I’m not showing. But I’m very excited. I’m excited to be carrying his baby.” 

Eventually, it had been clear that sleep wasn’t coming. So he’d got up, got the laptop out of his bag, and booted it up.  
It didn’t take him long to find… Everything. 

Their manager had been right. The fastest moving topic on the official message boards was  
‘A fan is having Gerard’s baby??!!’  
He clicked on the latest post, and read. 

“Look. Guys. We don’t even know if it’s true. We’re getting this all from one article in one shitty newspaper. I think we should show Gerard a little more respect than this and wait for him to comment on it.”

Gerard had to smile at that.  
So his fans did have some faith in him after all.  
Almost immediately, there was a new reply. 

“Respect?! You’re talking about someone who has preached over and over again about treating girls with respect, about treating fans with respect. And now we find out he’s actually been just as bad as those he’s talked shit about.  
What part are we not understanding here?  
He fucked a fan.  
He fucked a fan, who is barely fucking legal, and he got her pregnant. 

What about that am I supposed to respect again?”

He felt sick.  
It felt like in these two posts, he was seeing the entire fandom right now. He was seeing the divide. He was seeing exactly what was being said about him, exactly what people were thinking.  
Then, he caught sight of another post, a little further up the page. And, more than that second one ever could, this one nearly brought him to tears. 

“I don’t understand… I don’t know what to think right now. I love Gerard so much, he’s my idol. I want to believe this isn’t true. That it’s a lie but… But I’m not sure and it scares me.”

He stared at the screen, at that comment for what seemed like a very long time.  
And, he realised that, as much as this was scaring him, it was scaring his fans too. They were hurting.  
They needed him. 

He was just bringing up his twitter page when he felt a sudden pressure on his shoulder, and heard a voice that made him jump.  
“Don’t.”

Gerard looked up, suddenly, and saw Frank standing next to him by the bed.  
He was frowning, just slightly, while also trying to smile.  
Frank could see the screen clearly enough to see Gerard now had his twitter page open. He knew what Gerard intended to do. 

“Frank-”

“Gee. Please. If you go online now… You’re handing yourself over to the wolves. You’ll be torn apart in seconds.”

Gerard minimised his twitter, and brought the message boards back up, turning the screen so Frank could see all that was being said.  
Frank sat down, on the edge of the bed, until Gerard shifted over, and let him sit properly, cross legged next to him.  
He read through the comments, and shook his head. 

“Gee. I mean it. Don’t go online. Not yet. Please. Give it until tomorrow at least.”  
Gerard shook his head. “No. Frank. Don’t you see? Don’t you see what is happening? This is hurting people, seriously hurting them. I have to- I have to speak the truth, for them. I have to let them know that… That it’s not true.” 

“Gerard! You can’t-” Frank cut off immediately when he noticed the latest comment that had been posted on the thread.  
“Oh. Shit.” He muttered.  
Gerard looked too, and saw. 

“Holy shit guys! I’ve found the girl who’s having Gee’s baby! She just given a full description of the night they had sex. Check it:”

Underneath, there was a link.  
Before Frank could stop him, Gerard had clicked it. 

A blog popped up. The background was black and white, almost smoky. The title of the blog was in bold, red letters: The Black Parade Never Dies.  
There was a small description too: Hi! I’m Jem, this is my blog. I love MCR, Green Day, Fall Out Boy and all the other good shit out there. Talk to me! I don’t bite (unless you’re into that). 

The post in question was at the top of the page. 

‘I guess a lot of people have seen/will be seeing the newspaper articles soon, and I realise I’m not exactly a big deal in the fandom right now, so, if you find me, well done! 

I’m sure a lot of people have questions about the ‘night in question’, and I’m more than happy to talk about that, so please don’t be shy to ask. However, I thought I’d beat people to the punch a bit, and write out a fully detailed description of the night my baby was conceived.  
Warning! Definitely NSFW.’

Frank took hold of the laptop, and tried to prise it away from Gerard.  
“C’mon Gee. You don’t wanna read this. It might as well be fucking fan fiction! Now come on. Put that laptop away and stop torturing yourself.”

Gerard shook his head. “No. I… I’ve gotta know. I should know what’s been said about me, so then… Then I know what I’m fighting, right?” 

Frank then physically picked up the laptop, and put it down the other end of the bed. He moved over Gerard, straddling his lap so there was no way the computer could make it’s way back on there.  
He bent down, hands reaching out to brush back Gerard’s hair.  
“Stop this.” Frank said. “Stop torturing yourself. You’ve done nothing wrong.”  
Gerard closed his eyes, and looked away.  
So Frank bent down further, and kissed him, softly.  
He pulled back, just enough to see Gerard’s reaction. Before he could though, Gerard had pulled him close and kissed him again.  
Their kisses stayed soft, light and careful. But, slowly, Frank started to move, just a little, just his hips, rocking, allowing a little friction between them.  
The kisses became deeper, mouths open, tongues just barely dipping in, not touching, not yet.  
Gerard wrapped his arms around Frank, and slowly guided him over, onto his back, while he himself moved above Frank, hands moving up to smooth back Frank’s hair, then one trailed down to Frank’s hip, encouraging him to keep moving.  
Frank gasped, happily, smiling. He briefly remembered what Mikey had said to him, just before he’d left. 

_“Frank… Usually, I wouldn’t even bring this up. I understand wanting to comfort him. But. Don’t. Don’t try to have sex with him. That’s not what he needs right now.”_

Frank grinned, just a little triumphant as he thought about how wrong Mikey had been.  
He reached down, and began to undo his belt.  
Gerard’s mouth was on his neck now, sucking gently, kissing in intervals.  
Frank’s hand brushed against Gerard’s crotch, and he heard a soft gasp. So Frank lifted himself up, pressing himself even closer to Gerard now.  
“Oh, fuck, fuck me.” 

It took Frank a couple of seconds to realise Gerard’s lips weren’t touching him. That his hands weren’t touching him, and that Gerard had in fact lifted himself up, a little away from Frank now.  
When he did, Frank opened his eyes, frowning. “What is it?” 

Gerard looked even more troubled than before. He was chewing his lip so hard Frank was almost worried he’d draw blood.  
“The… Night that she… The night that fan said I got her pregnant. We were together, weren’t we?”  
Frank smiled, as confidently as he could, reaching his hand up, to Gerard’s face. “Yes. We always are, Gee.”  
“Do you remember? Do you remember that night, specifically?”  
Frank laughed, disbelievingly. “Gee. I…” Then he closed his eyes.  
“California, right?” Frank said.  
Gerard nodded.  
“Uh.. LA?”  
Again, Gerard nodded.  
Frank also nodded, and sighed. “Yeah. Yeah. I do remember it.” He smiled then. “You were sweet that night. Even more than usual. You… You kissed me all over. And… And we went slow. Your eyes… Never seemed to leave my face. I remember that. I remember every time I opened my eyes, yours were open.”  
And now, Frank opened his eyes, found, again, Gerard looking down at him. “And I remember, later that night. Gee. That was the night you… Said you loved me.” Frank blushed, heavily then and turned his face away, almost scowling. Suddenly embarrassed. 

Gerard smiled, and started playing with Frank’s hair. “I’m glad. I’m glad you remember it all.”  
Frank looked up then, frowning. “Don’t you?”  
Gerard nodded. “I remember. I just…” He cut off, sighed. Then he turned over and let himself lay down on his back, beside Frank.  
“I just need a little extra grounding at the moment. Especially that night. Even though… We can’t tell anyone publicly. I feel like, I needed to know you remembered it.” 

He looked over just as Frank rolled onto his side.  
“Frank.” Gerard said, quietly. “I need to know what she’s said.”  
Frank glanced over at the laptop again.  
“I know you do.” He replied. 

They sat up together, the laptop balanced between them, and Gerard brought the page up again.  
Frank moved a little closer, and kissed Gerard’s cheek, softly. “It’s okay.”

It started with the truth. 

‘It happened the night after the gig. (details of the show itself can be found here). I waited out the back, for what seemed like hours, but it turned out it was only about an hour. There was only me and ten other kids that night, which really surprised me. Frank came out first, and stopped to talk with everyone. He’s a really sweet guy.’ 

“Well, hey, look at that, she thinks I’m sweet. She can’t be all bad.” Frank teased. Trying to lighten the mood.  
Gerard narrowed his eyes at him.  
“Then I guess we’re lucky she didn’t suggest we both slept with her, huh?”  
Frank kept quiet after that. 

He skipped ahead a bit until Gerard was mentioned. 

‘… Gerard spent ages talking to everyone. I was a little worried he wasn’t going to have time to speak to everyone even.  
But… Then he got to me. And he smiled, real big. We started talking and it was like… I didn’t know when to stop. He just made me feel so comfortable around him.’

And then, the lies started. 

‘Then, he moved a little closer and said “I’m really enjoying talking to you, and I’d like to carry on… If I tell you where we’re staying, will you meet me outside in an hour?”  
Of course, immediately I said yes.’ 

The reading got harder after that.  
Details of the girl waiting outside the hotel. How he’d come and met her, and led her upstairs to his room. 

It said they’d talked a while.  
Then he’d kissed her. And she hadn’t known how to react.  
He apologised, told her he was wrong to do that.  
She told him no, he wasn’t wrong. 

They kissed again, and that time, they didn’t stop. 

At this point of reading, Frank pushed the laptop away, shook his head.  
“I can’t… Gee. I’m sorry, but I can’t read this. I can’t read this… Fake version of you.”  
Gerard set the laptop down beside him, and pulled Frank in to a hug. “It’s okay.” He said, quietly. “You don’t have to read it with me.”  
Frank pulled back. “But you’re still going to?”  
Gerard nodded.  
Frank nodded back. “Okay. I’m… Gonna go shower. Um. If you need me…”  
Gerard pulled him back, close, kissed his neck, briefly, softly.  
They parted without further words. And Frank left the room.  
And Gerard picked up the laptop again. And he continued to read. 

By the time he was done reading, he was a wreck, in tears and hurting so very much. 

Frank heard him, and hurried himself out of the bathroom, throwing on his bed clothes.  
He found Gerard sat on the bed, his head bowed, face covered by his hands. The laptop still sat open beside him.  
Frank reached across and shut that first, then he wrapped his arms around Gerard, pulled him close. He was glad that Gerard shifted, and pressed closer. He was not so glad to find the state Gerard had worked himself into.  
Hadn’t this been exactly what Frank had come up here intending to prevent? Hadn’t he come up here to make sure Gerard didn’t get more upset?  
Protectively, Frank squeezed him, gently. “It’s alright.” He promised, softly.  
“I didn’t. I didn’t do it. Any of it.” Gerard said, quietly, but with a slightly jagged voice.  
“I know. I know you didn’t, Gee.”  
“They don’t!” Gerard’s voice came out louder then, but it broke heartbreakingly. “They don’t know it! They don’t know I didn’t! I. I would never-” His voice caught then, stopping him, cutting him off. Frank hushed him, softly. “They will though. They will know Gee, we’ll make sure of it.” 

Gerard shook his head, but he didn’t reply. His head was too filled with the things that blog post had said.  
According to that, they’d had sex three times.  
Not counting the oral sex, which, it was explained, Gerard had asked of her before the final time they had sex.  
‘He was nervous about asking, I could tell’, the girl wrote, ‘but, even though I’d never done that before, I didn’t mind.’

And, a key part of the story, it had been during the last time that he hadn’t worn a condom.  
The first two times yes, and even during oral. But the final time, as she put it:  
‘We were too caught up, it didn’t even occur to me. I didn’t even think to ask, or to check with him. It was only after, it was only when I (forgive the crudeness please) felt him come inside me, I thought it felt different. And, I guess that’s when he realised, or remembered too, because he apologised. He said he’d forgot, been in too much of a rush.’

Eventually, when it’d churned over in his head too much, Gerard explained that part to Frank. That was the most important part of the story anyway.  
Frank had managed to guide them both under the covers by now, laid down finally. And he pulled Gerard close, kissed his lips softly.  
He shook his head as he pushed back Gerard’s hair again. “She knows absolutely nothing about you. Even if I didn’t already know that, what she said about you there, is solid proof. Gee, you would never, never put anyone in that sort of situation. You would never be that careless with someone.”  
Frank pulled him close and kissed him again, a little more fiercely now.  
“Fuck… I mean… You wouldn’t even have sex with me without a condom until we both had health checks.”  
To that, finally, Gerard laughed. “You fucking hated me for that.”  
“Yeah. I did. But… I did understand, you know? I knew why, I knew it was only because you didn’t want any harm being done. And. That shit about you being in too much of a rush? No. Nope. We’ve been in plenty of rushes before. We had sex on the damn bus when we barely knew if we were gonna have time to come before the others caught up, but you still stopped to find and put on a condom. No. No. This girl… This girl has no fucking clue who Gerard Way is, and it’s sick that she is saying these things about you.” 

“I think I’d like to try and sleep now…” Gerard said, quietly.  
Frank nodded, then kissed Gerard’s eyelid, which was already closed. He reached up to turn off the light. 

A few seconds, or maybe minutes of silence passed. Then Frank said, “You’re one of the best people in the world Gee, and I won’t let anyone think otherwise.” 

##

Sleep continued to be an uneasy friend that night. When Gerard slept he was overcome with a disquiet feeling, like something shifting constantly, intangible. There were no clear images or dreams, just that feeling, but it was enough to wake him numerous times in the night. And when he woke the uneasiness was still there, coupled with the understanding of what was causing that uneasiness.

At some point in the night, after Gerard had woken for the third time, Frank gave up on sleep entirely. Neither Gerard sleeping or waking made a peaceful bed companion that night. When he was awake, he would repeat the things he’d said earlier that night. How it wasn’t true, he hadn’t done it. Frank would shush him gently and tell him he knew that.  
And when he slept he was restless. Shifting and constantly moving, almost as if he were trying to get comfortable, he never settled for more than a few seconds before moving again.  
In the end, Frank sat up in bed, one hand reaching out, stroking back through Gerard’s hair. The other man paused briefly at this offer of comfort, but then quickly moved again. Frank moved his hand to Gerard’s shoulder then, squeezed gently. 

He had his phone out now, and was checking all the places Gerard had been earlier. Reading the message board. Since the blog post had come through from the girl, the message board had erupted further.  
There seemed to be two schools of thought, and both raged against each other fiercely. 

One side said that the blog post was either fake, or it more certainly disproved what had been said about Gerard.

“Who in their right minds would write about it like that?”  
“C’mon guys, it’s pretty much fan fiction!”

To that one, Frank grinned and nodded. “Yeah!” He said, quietly to the post, “That’s what I said!”

There was more on that side too.

“By creating a blog post like that, she completely discredits herself. Having it reported in the papers gave her some credibility. This blog posts shows her to be desperate and attention hungry. She is just a poor, misguided girl who has chosen to put Gerard is this situation. I understand it, he is a very sweet man and I see why she’d want to believe Gerard is her baby’s father (if she’s even pregnant… Do we know for sure?) but I don’t think she understands how damaging this could be for him.” 

Frank was very tempted to log on and personally congratulate that person. They seemed to have their head screwed firmly on. 

But, there was the other side too. 

“THERE IT IS! There’s the proof! It’s true! He really did!” 

And that generally summed up that side.  
A lot of nasty words were used to describe Gerard, and there were a lot of comments on the details in the blog post, especially pertaining to the part about oral.

“I wonder why he was nervous asking about it… Do you think he’s, you know… Less than endowed?”  
“PFFT! Please, have you seen that fucking bulge? He’s fucking hung. Probably worried about scaring her off ; ) ‘

Frank had to shake those comments off and remember, this was the sort of thing the fans talked about normally, he just didn’t often see it. No big deal. 

After a lot of reading, some of which made Frank feel better, some which made him feel a hell of a lot worse, he eventually came to the comment which finished him off completely. 

“I’m really glad she wrote that blog post, puts my mind at ease. For a while there I was kinda thinking he’d raped her.” 

And, completely ignoring the fact he’d told Gerard not to only hours before, Frank switched immediately on to twitter. 

He barely thought about what he was going to write, then he sent it.

‘Don’t trust everything you read. #MakeMeSick.’ 

Yeah. He shouldn’t have added the hash tag, but he was mad. 

Almost instantly the replies came flooding in. 

‘Is this about Gerard?’  
‘Are you saying it’s not true?’  
‘YES FRANK I KNEW IT THANK YOU!!’  
‘Don’t stand up for him! Let the scumbag speak for himself.’  
‘We make you sick? Huh. Wonder what you must think of G right now.’  
‘Frank! Please tell everyone it’s not true!’  
‘When’s Gerard coming online? We need to hear from him!’  
‘Do you know for sure? How do you know…?’  
‘HAHA! Bet you fucked her too.’  
‘Is Gerard okay? I bet he’s upset about this…’  
‘CAN YOU TELL US GERARDS REACTION PLLLLLZZZ!!??’

Frank watched them all come through, and, almost in a trance, he started replying to them. 

‘Yes. It’s about Gerard.’  
‘No. it’s not true.’  
He sent little ‘xo’s’ to those who replied something positive.  
‘I can’t speak for Gerard, but I can say I’m pissed about it.’  
‘I do know for sure.’ 

He understood that he shouldn’t be doing this, that by speaking about it publicly he was breaking the very rule he’d given to Gerard. But he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t just let people tear Gerard apart like this. He’d had to do something. 

He understood he’d probably regret it later. He just hoped it wouldn’t end up hurting Gerard more.


	2. The Damage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after the discovery of the rumour, and things are only looking uglier.   
> Despite efforts to dispel the lies being told, it seems some people only wish to believe the worst. Further rumours and exaggerations pile on, and the pressure is being felt throughout the whole band, though none more so than Gerard.
> 
> A difficult but ultimately triumphant show is quickly overshadowed.  
> And things threaten to get only worse.

The next morning was heralded by a persistent banging at the door.   
Frank had eventually fallen asleep and this abrupt awakening was less than welcome. He turned over and pulled the covers over his head, trying to ignore it, 

“Frank!” The familiar voice of their manager came from the other side of the door, and, immediately, Frank knew he was in trouble.   
“Frank! Get your ass out of bed and explain to me what the fuck you have done!” 

Frank threw the covers off, briefly pausing to check that Gerard hadn’t yet been woken.   
Though the other man stirred, it appeared sleep was staying with him a little longer at least. 

Hurrying to the door, Frank opened it just slightly, peering out.   
The door was pushed back further as their manager stepped in. He had his phone in his hand, held out, and, Frank could see, open on twitter.   
On Frank’s twitter, specifically.  
He sighed, hand raising to his face.   
“What the _hell_ did you do?” 

Frank glanced back over to the bed, seeing Gerard starting to move, covers being pushed back. 

“Hey, um, can we… Talk about this somewhere else?” Frank asked, nervously.   
He didn’t want this awful reality to come crashing down on Gerard so early, especially if he had, in fact, just made things worse for Gerard.   
But now Gerard was sitting up, just barely awake, rubbing at his eyes and pushing back his hair. “Frank? Wha-? What’s… Going on? We late?” Gerard asked, sleepily. 

“We’re fine Gee!” Frank assured, quickly. “You can sleep a little longer, I just-”

“No.” Their manager interrupted. “I think Gerard should know about this. Since you’ve just made this already bad situation worse.” 

Gerard pushed back the covers, and started to move down the bed, towards them. “What happened?”   
Frank looked away, scowling fiercely.   
Their manager held out his phone.   
“Why don’t you look for yourself.” 

Gerard took the phone, and looked.   
He immediately recognised it as Frank’s twitter page. He frowned for a second, not understanding what he was supposed to be seeing.   
Then he started reading, and his eyes went wide as it all became clear.   
“I- I don’t… Frank. You. You told me not to do this, so why did-”

“I couldn’t stand by and let people talk about you like that, Gerard!” Frank snapped, turning, facing him.   
“The- the things they were saying- I- I had to say something!”  
Gerard smiled, weakly, and reached his arms out to Frank, awkwardly pulling the other man close. He kissed Frank’s cheek, then temple, then his lips, softly.   
“I love you very much for wanting to protect me.” Gerard said, quietly. 

Their manager sighed, loudly, reminding them both that he was still there.   
That he wasn’t going away, and neither was this situation.   
“I think we have to face this now. Head on. It‘s only going to escalate if we let it go on any longer.”   
Gerard looked up at him, having to fight the urge to just pull Frank in, closer, protectively, comfortingly.   
Instead he nodded, slowly.   
“What should we do?” 

“Start simple.” The manager replied. “Issue a statement on the website. Not on twitter, twitter is too immediate, you’ll be too tempted to reply to all the feedback you’ll get.” His eyes flickered over to Frank, who scowled, heavily in response.   
“One, simple, easy statement, denying the rumour. No need to go into anything else, just say the rumour is not true.”   
Gerard nodded, his arm slipping from Frank now, as he reached down to retrieve his laptop.  
“And no mentions about yours and Frank’s relationship, do you understand me? We cannot pile that on top of all this mess.”   
Again, though slightly slower, and more reluctantly, Gerard nodded. 

They were left alone then. Told the time to meet everyone downstairs. 

Somehow they both still felt shell shocked by the whole thing. 

##  
For what seemed a long time, Gerard just stared at the screen, blankly.   
He had no idea where to start. 

Meanwhile, Frank got himself dressed, and gathered his things back up, repacked them.   
Then, seeing that Gerard still hadn’t even started on his post, he gathered up most of Gerard’s things, packing them away too. 

Finally, Gerard started typing. Slowly, thinking carefully about every word he chose. 

 

Dear Friends. 

Normally I do not involve myself in gossip and rumours. I understand they are bound to happen, and, perhaps, they are even a necessary part of any band’s life, and especially in their fandom.   
But, in this case, I feel it is only right that I step in, and put the rumours in their place. I have seen the hurt these rumours are causing, the confusion. 

I shall state this, very clearly, and so there can be no mistake. I have the utmost respect for women, and I have the highest respect for our fans. I would in no way take advantage, or disrespect any person, especially a fan.   
I’ve spoken about this before, but, obviously I need to make my stance even more blunt.   
I have not, and will not ever, sleep with a fan. Not because I think them beneath me, but because I respect them, you all, too much to do such a thing. 

I hope the young lady who has made the claim about me has a good support network around her, and I wish her luck. 

xoxo  
G

 

He posted it quickly, and tried to put it out of his mind.  
He had no illusions that that would be the end of it, though. 

##

They were both late coming downstairs, but no one commented on this fact.

Back on the bus, Gerard quickly settled himself down at the table, got out sketchpad and pencils, and buried himself in characters, ideas and plots. Some things he would never use, some that he might, eventually be able to work into a storyline. 

Eventually, Mikey came and sat across from him.   
Set down a coffee that Gerard gratefully took. He raised his eyes from the page for a moment to smile at Mikey, then quickly looked away again.   
Almost like he was scared that if he allowed himself to stay too long in the real world, he’d have to think about it all again. 

“I read your blog post.” Mikey said, dragging Gerard back to the situation anyway.   
Gerard closed his eyes, pausing his hand from it’s soft, careful movements across the page.   
“That should clear everything up, right? I mean… They can’t misunderstand that, can they?”   
Gerard nodded. “Yeah. It should… It should clear everything up.”   
“You don’t think it will.” Mikey pressed, his words were not a question. 

Now Gerard looked up. “Did you see the message boards? Have you read them? Have you seen the other websites? Have you seen twitter?”   
“Have you seen twitter?”   
Gerard shook his head. “I… I don’t want to know. The rest is bad enough. Mikes… They hate me right now. Hate and distrust me. I don’t…”   
He paused, sighed.   
“I don’t think this can be fixed so easily.”   
Mikey reached out, placed his hand over Gerard’s. “It might not be easy, but this will get fixed Gee. You know that, right?” 

Meanwhile, Frank was sat up on his bunk.  
He’d found himself, once again, on the message boards.   
At first, he’d felt a swell of relief as he saw the initial comments on Gerard’s post. People thanking him for clarifying. People saying they were sorry for doubting him. Offers of love, support, saying how good he was for wishing the girl luck, even though she’d said this about him. 

He should’ve stopped scrolling. Because eventually, inevitably, he came to the other stuff. 

People calling Gerard a liar, a coward. Saying he should own up to what he’s done, should take responsibility. 

He should’ve put the phone away, should’ve got up, made a drink, got his guitar, something, anything else.   
He ended up on twitter again. It was an awful, morbid curiosity that led him to sign out of his own account, and ‘hack’ onto Gerard’s instead. (He’d figured out Gerard’s password long ago, and though Gerard knew, he’d never bother to change it). 

There on Gerard’s profile was the last tweet he’d sent out yesterday, just before the signing. 

“Sorry I’m running late guys! Be with you soon, can’t wait to meet you all!”

Frank felt an overwhelming sadness, coupled with a surge of almost painful love. The Gerard who’d sent that tweet had been full of happiness, joy at the thought of seeing his fans. Apologising for keeping them waiting, eager to see them. There was so much love, even in this very simple tweet.   
This was before anyone knew what was coming. 

The mentions tab was blown up, more than usual. Frank was used to seeing a lot, often still overwhelmed by it, though.   
And here, truly, was where it got ugly. 

There was no holding back on twitter, it seemed. Every bad word or slur that could be used was used, and some new ones made up besides.   
So, so very many were calling Gerard a liar. Saying he lied before, was lying now.   
Calling him disgusting, that he’d used his position of power to take advantage of a young girl, and now he wasn’t even taking responsibility for it.   
People demanding to know if there were more, how many had he slept with? How many girls had got pregnant, how many had his child?   
Worse.

“How many have you silenced and forced to abort?”

Frank’s blood was hot, he felt it pumping that little too quick.   
_Stop. Think. Don’t do anything before you think about it. What effect will this have on Gerard? THINK!_

He wasn’t thinking though, or, if he was, it was only about clearing Gerard’s name, getting him out of this. It had got worse, not better, and it made Frank furious. Why weren’t they listening? Why weren’t they trusting Gerard? Had Gerard ever given them reason to mistrust him? No! 

Back on his own profile now, Frank was typing quickly.

“Gerard has never spoken anything but the truth to you. Give him some fucking respect.” 

The response was immediate.   
Frank ignored it. He had more to say. 

“To the young girl who has spread this lie about Gerard, I BEG you to come clean and admit your lie.” 

The response came thicker and faster. Still Frank ignored it. 

“Oh, and in case you’re wondering. I know exactly where G was that night. It wasn’t with her.” 

He put the phone down then, and went over to sit with Gerard.   
He was shaking, just slightly, and he felt selfish for it when Gerard put his arm around him, pulled him closer, and yet he allowed himself to feel every ounce of that comfort.   
He hoped he conveyed some to Gerard too. 

##

Every now and then, their manager would mutter something at his phone. Hurried conversations with magazines and radios. “No, he will not do an interview about this. Because it’s a bullshit story, that‘s why! NO! I’m not going to ask him.”

They tried, and tried to ignore this. And Gerard tried to ignore his phone, which buzzed, insistently with messages from friends, some asking if he was okay, some, friends who didn’t know him so well, asking if it was true, if he needed help getting out of this? 

Frank didn’t mention the tweets he’d seen, the accusations of a long line of fans, the scattered bastard children, the forced abortions. It all made him feel too sick. He knew that Gerard, more sensitive even than himself, might actually end up being sick if he knew. 

##

They were all tempted to ask Gerard if he wanted to call that nights show off, Gerard could tell they wanted him to. He knew he didn’t seem quite steady, not quite sure of himself. Ray attempted to broach the subject, but Gerard wouldn’t even let him get the question out. 

“We carry on, like normal.” 

As they waited, back stage, just off from the stage, nearly ready to go on, they all had to admit they could feel it. There was always something intense about their crowds, but tonight, there was an extra edge. It made them all a little uneasy, and then, just then, just for a second, Gerard felt like stepping back, like backing down, and running. Saying he couldn’t do this.  
He didn’t realise he really had taken a step back, not until Frank grabbed his hand.   
“It’s gonna be a fight tonight.” Frank said.   
Gerard nodded.   
Then Frank looked up, “But it’s a fight we can win.”  
Again, Gerard nodded.   
And finally, one by one, they took to the stage. 

It was a fight, a fight to feel like the crowd, though their own, was with them, not against them. Or, rather, not against Gerard.   
There was a surge as Gerard took centre stage, but it wasn’t the kind of rallying feeling of people wanting to get close to him, it felt more dangerous than that.   
He could feel the energy coming from the crowd and knew that part of what had brought them here tonight was a way to get their anger and frustration out. Their anger at him, their feeling of betrayal. It was a feeling so great he wanted to fall to his knees and beg them to listen, to understand. To forgive him for the things he had not even done.   
Instead he stood, defiant, chin tipping up as he gripped at the microphone, determined to show no weakness as he launched himself and his band into their first song.

The hostile feeling lessened as the show went on, but it did not go away. Though he felt it most, Gerard realised his band mates were feeling the same dangerous air, and knew it was directed purely at Gerard, they all moved closer to him, just subtly, but unmistakably protectively. 

Though Gerard felt the urge to talk, and he badly wanted to talk between songs, he knew what topic he would end up on, and he didn’t want to go there, he was scared to bring it up.   
He was scared to give the audience a moment to think about anything other than the music. 

Then he spotted something, and though he tried to ignore it, he couldn’t.   
A couple of rows back from the front, someone had a banner. He felt his heart drop, painfully as soon as he saw what it said.   
‘GERARD I WANT YOUR BABY TOO!’ 

He’d gone silent, just staring at it. He felt Mikey come up close behind him, checking on him, felt the other two come closer too, doing the same. Eventually, they all saw it. Mikey placed a hand on Gerard’s shoulder, and Frank leaned in slightly, going to take his hand.   
Then, not taking his eyes off the banner, Gerard turned back to the microphone, and for the first time that night, addressed the audience for longer than just to tell them thank you and the next song title. 

“There’s a girl up front here. She’s got a banner. I can see it, I see it, you can put it down now. I’m not going to tell you guys what it says because uh…” He paused, rubbed his face. “Because it’s actually really fucking upsetting to me, to see that. To see someone… Respecting themselves so little. Young lady!” He called out, towards the girl again. “Promise me, promise me right fucking now you will never say anything so disrespectful about yourself ever again. Do not ever put yourself in that place again, you hear me?”   
The girl had her hand over her mouth now, her friend had her arms around her, the girl was sobbing.   
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I just need you to understand, I need you ALL to understand.” He stepped forward now, to the edge of the stage. He felt his band mates behind him, wanting to pull him back, he felt the crowd in front wanting to grab him and pull him down. He would ignore both.   
“I am incredibly aware of the things being said about me, and I repeat what I have said before, they are not true. But, more important than that, more important than what you think about what I may or may not have done, I want every single one of you to understand the importance of respecting yourself. I don’t care if he’s the cutest guy in class, or the hottest girl on the team. I don’t care if you’ve loved him for years, I don’t care if you just met them at a party. I don’t care if you’re a virgin, never been kissed, or if you’re experienced. I don’t care if he’s a movie star, a rock star or the fucking president. Never, never, NEVER disrespect yourself so much that you give in to shitty advances, never throw yourself at someone, you are worth MORE! So much more.”  
He paused, and heard the roar come back.   
It was with him, not at him.  
They were with him, finally. 

He brought the microphone back to his lips and said. “And, I hereby give you permission. If _I_ EVER proposition any one of you. You have my permission to kick me in the fucking balls, you got that?” 

He turned back around, went back to his place as another roar erupted. 

His band smiled at him, and he smiled back, a little shakily. He felt like something had lifted, things that needed to be said had finally been said. And he was, finally, fully able to enjoy the rest of the show. 

##

After the show, though there wasn’t the usual level of high energy in the dressing room, it felt so much lighter, so much easier than it had.   
Frank kept close to Gerard, more than usual, finding excuses to touch him, to kiss him. He couldn’t find the words to say how proud he was, of how fearless Gerard had been. Amazed that he’d been able to turn this all around into such an important, uplifting message for the fans.   
_How do you do it?_ Frank wondered as he idly watched Gerard getting changed. 

The manager came in, to see if they were nearly ready.   
The band was looking exhausted, but happy, the uncomfortable tenseness had mostly evaporated from them.   
“You guys gonna head outside and see the fans? It’s not too crazy tonight, but there’s a few of them.” 

Immediately, all attention turned to Gerard.   
He looked up, considering this very, very carefully.   
“I… Don’t think I… Will.”   
Frank frowned at him, very slightly. “You don’t have to be scared of them, Gee.”  
Gerard ducked his head, shaking it at the same time. “I’m… I just don’t think I can. Not tonight.”   
Mikey came closer to him, slipped an arm around his shoulders. “You don’t have to. You’ve done plenty tonight.”  
Frank nodded. “I agree, but I don’t think Gee should be made to feel like he-”   
“Frank.” Gerard said, quietly. He glanced up at Frank, pleadingly.   
Frank sighed. “Okay. I get it, I just-”  
“I know.” 

It was eventually decided that none of them would go. Though Gerard tried to insist that there was no reason the others couldn’t go, they equally insisted back that this was about sticking together.  
“If we show we’re sticking by you… Perhaps it’ll convince the fans to do the same.” 

They all tried, with difficulty, not to look at the crowd outside. Feeling guilty as they were called out to.

Gerard went straight to his bunk, throwing himself down onto it.   
Frank followed, settling down at the end of Gerard’s bunk, picking up Gerard’s feet, placing them on his lap. He picked at Gerard’s laces, idly taking his boots off for him, while he kicked off his own.   
Gerard laughed, quietly. “I can do my own shoes, you know?”   
“Yeah, but I’m nearer.” Frank said, with a grin. He looked up, properly at Gerard. “And you know I like to help.”   
To this, Gerard nodded, reached out his arms to him, encouraging Frank to lay down with him.   
Arms had just encircled each other, they were just getting comfortable, Gerard nuzzling his face down against Frank’s neck as he squeezed him, gently. 

“Frank!” Mikey’s voice was almost a shriek, so loud and sudden it made them both jump, Frank nearly falling out of the narrow bunk,  
He sat up, careful not to smack his head, while Gerard sat up slightly slower.   
Even before Mikey got to them, Frank realised what he was in trouble for, again.   
Mikey had his phone out. 

Twitter. Again.   
Frank’s twitter. Again.   
“What the hell is this?” Mikey demanded, showing the profile, with the three latest tweets.   
Frank sighed. “I just… I got mad. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, alright?! I just want people to get off Gee’s back.”   
“And how is this going to help?!” 

Gerard sat up, took Mikey’s phone. Read briefly, then handed it back, before going to his own phone.   
Frank tried to snatch it from him.   
“No! Don’t-”   
He knew what waited for Gerard online, he would not allow Gerard to see it. He couldn’t allow him to know what was being said,   
“If you can go on twitter, so can I.” Gerard told him, calmly. Though it was clear that the calm was merely a thin veil to the truth.  
His hands were shaking. 

Phone unlocked.  
Twitter app opened.  
Tap on the mentions tab.   
A few, very long seconds scrolling, reading.  
Then a hand to his mouth, the phone thrown to the bed.  
Gerard was on his feet, and dashed to their tiny version of a bathroom on the bus. Door slammed shut behind him.

Mikey stared after him, then, slowly, he turned at looked at Frank.   
Elbows propped on his knees, head in his hands, Frank’s fingers dragged through his hair, tugging at it a little too harshly. 

“It’s only got worse.” Mikey said.   
Frank nodded.   
“And now he’s seen it.”  
Again, Frank nodded.   
“You know what they were saying about him?”  
A hysterical laugh escaped Frank.   
“Yeah, I know what they were saying. But it wasn’t about Gee. It can’t be about Gee, because who the FUCK could ever believe that Gee, our Gee could ever do any of those fucking things! Who could fucking believe any of this in the first place!”   
“Well they do!” Mikey snapped back. “They believe it, and like it or not, it IS our Gerard they’re saying that about. And guess what? You rallying against them all like you are is NOT helping him!”   
Frank got to his feet now, indignant, for so many reasons, anger bubbling up, white hot inside him.  
It wasn’t meant for Mikey, he wasn’t mad at Mikey, but Mikey was the one in front of him, so he got the brunt of it anyway.   
“At least I’m fucking doing something! At least I’m fucking standing up for him! Saying something, trying to make them listen! What the fuck are you doing for him? What the fuck is anyone else doing for him? You think if we just keep quiet this’ll all go away?”  
“No, Frank, I-”  
“Because it won’t! This isn’t going away! This isn’t fucking stopping! If we don’t stand up for him, they are just going to keep on fucking believing it. Is that what you want? Do you want all our fans thinking Gee will fuck them and let them deal with a pregnancy, a child all by themselves? Or forcing them to get an abortion? Is that what you want them to see your brother as?”   
The punch came so fast, so hard, Frank reeled back, falling back onto the bed. 

By the time Frank realised what had happened, and started to sit up, Mikey was leaning down over him.  
Mikey rarely cut a fearsome figure, but, right then, Frank was almost scared of him.  
“Do not, ever, ever accuse me of not caring about Gerard. If I could take this shit from him and put it on myself, I would.”

Frank propped himself up on his elbows, defiant despite his shock, and the pain in his jaw. “If we are going to make this rumour die, we stand together. Like we did tonight. We stand with him, against this.” 

Mikey sighed, slumping, the intensity in him lessening.   
He nodded.   
“I’m gonna go check on him.” 

##

Though Mikey knocked first, he almost couldn’t get the door open.   
Gerard was sat on the floor, the small space allowed for the tiny room meant it was impossible for him not to be sitting partly in front of the door. 

Eventually he stood, and, reluctantly, let Mikey in. 

“I told you they hate me.” Gerard said, quietly.   
Mikey pulled him, immediately, into a hug,   
He could feel his big brother shaking, and it made him so sad to know, to know what one person, one lie had managed to do.   
“They just don’t know… What to think.” Mikey said, gently. “I’m… Not saying they’re right, I’m just-”  
“They know exactly what to think.” Gerard said, pushing Mikey back, holding him away, his head bowed so his hair hung down, so Mikey could not see his face.   
“They think that, not only have I slept with, and got this one girl pregnant. They think I’ve done that… Lot’s of times. They think I’ve- I’ve-”  
He let go of Mikey suddenly, and turned, to lean over the sink. He retched, spat, a few times more. Then ran the sink and splashed his face.  
Mikey watched, feeling helpless.

“Keep thinking I’m going to be sick.” Gerard said, his voice weak, quiet as he leant heavily over the sink. “Starting to wish I would be. Might get rid of this feeling in my gut… Twisted and rotten.”  
Mikey reached out, placed a hand on his shoulder. “This will pass, Gee. You know it will, right?”   
Gerard shook his head. “I don’t… I’m not sure anymore. How must they see me? I’m loosing them, Mikes. We’re- We’re loosing them. What if they loose… What if they loose us?” 

Mikey shook his head, moved closer, to hug his brother from behind now.   
“We haven’t lost them, Gee, I promise.”  
Then, quietly, he knew this was exactly what was going through Gerard’s mind, he added, “You’re not letting anyone down.” 

Frank was still on Gerard’s bunk, curled up on the opposite end to the pillow, reading.  
A message came up on his phone, a friend, asking how Gerard was. Frank almost didn’t feel like replying, he didn’t want to lie, but he also didn’t want to reply with something as stark and upsetting as the truth.   
Eventually he settled on “Not great, as you’d expect, but we’re looking after him.” 

A couple of quick flicks over some of his ‘time waster’ websites. Absent minded look on twitter, for an honest moment, forgetting the troubles he’d faced on there so recently.   
In his mentions, there was the usual bullshit from the past day, plus more besides. So much about Gerard, it was getting ridiculous now, the accusations getting wilder, to a point where he was sure no one could believe them anyway.   
Then, something caught his eye.  
Someone. 

One user that kept cropping up, over and over again.   
Same basic message.   
“I didn’t lie, don’t call me a liar, Frank. You don’t know everything.” 

Eventually, he clicked on the profile.   
The name on the profile was ‘Jem’. The link in the bio led to a tumblr page called ‘black parade never dies’.  
And the profile picture was of the same girl pictured in the news article from the previous day.  
It was her. 

Frank’s first instinct was to block her, maybe even report her.   
But, instead, he decided to take a more civil action.  
He followed her.   
And sent her a carefully thought out direct message. 

‘I believe you’re the girl claiming to be pregnant with Gerard’s baby.   
You and I both know that is a lie.   
And it is a lie that is hurting Gerard very much. Please. Please, set the record straight.’ 

He waited.  
He watched as the girl freaked out on twitter about the fact that Frank had followed her.   
She got quite a response, apparently a number of people had found her now, she was known within the fandom.   
Frank wasn’t convinced that was a good thing, for her. 

And then, finally, she replied. 

“hello Frank. I’m honoured you’ve decided to follow me, and taken the time to message me privately. You and I both know this is a delicate matter, after all.   
What you don’t know is, this isn’t a lie. Me and Gerard did sleep together, and I am having his baby.”

Frank stared at the response, feeling almost hysterical.  
This girl was delusional.   
Delusional. She had to be.   
He wrote back: 

“Jem. Would I be wrong in thinking you are a fan of ours? And a fan of Gerard? Would I be wrong in thinking you admire him in some way?  
Please. Please, if you have any kind of feeling for him, take this lie back. It’s not too late.” 

An immediate reply:

“I’m not lying. It’s actually very hurtful that you are saying I’m lying.”

Frank didn’t know how to reply to that, there seemed to be no reasoning with her.   
And then another message came through from her. 

“Ask Gerard to follow me too. I want to speak with my baby’s father.” 

Frank was very close to telling her he would most certainly NOT be doing that, but then he stopped, and thought.   
Surely, the one person she could not argue with, would be Gerard. The one person who the lie could not stand up against. 

“I’ll ask him.”   
He replied instead. 

##

When Gerard and Mikey finally emerged, Frank was eager to explain the situation to Gerard, excited that he was certain they’d found a sure fire way out of this. 

But Gerard looked so tired, and pale, his eyes a little red.   
Could Frank really ask him to do this, now? When it was all clearly draining him so much. 

For a while, they just sat together, curled up comfortably, comfortingly. And Frank tried to wait as long as possible to break this spell. If they stayed together, just like this, they could forget everything.   
But there was that nagging thought in Frank’s brain, that he just couldn’t ignore. 

Eventually, quietly he said, “I found the girl. Or… She found me.”   
Gerard lifted his head, eyes trying not to be too wide.   
Frank explained, and explained that she wanted to speak to him. 

It took a lot of convincing, but, eventually, Gerard agreed. He saw the merits to Frank’s plan, and, in truth, part of him hoped this would be the easy fix Frank said it would be.

Frank took Gerard’s phone, and found the girl for him.  
He didn’t want Gerard to have to scroll through all the shit and venomous messages just to find her. 

For a long time, Gerard just stared at her profile, taking it all in.  
Taking in the messages she was still answering, even as he watched.   
People asking about her baby.  
About the night it happened.  
About what Gerard was… Like. 

Finally, he opened up the direct messages, and, though he agonised over how to start this, he wrote something very simple in the end.

“Hey, Jem. I think we have some things to discuss.” 

Gerard looked up at Frank as he sent this, and shrugged. Frank nodded, encouragingly. 

They stayed on the screen, and waited for the reply. 

A heart emoji was sent first.   
Then:

“Hi daddy, I was hoping you’d get in touch soon. We do have a lot to discuss.” 

Gerard frowned, and Frank sat up straighter, pressing closer against Gerard, staring at the phone with wide eyes, having to stop himself from grabbing the phone and replying for Gerard.   
But Gerard was already typing.

“Please don’t call me that.”

“Well, thought it’d be good for you to get used to being called daddy. You’ll be hearing it a lot, after all.   
Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?” 

Gerard closed his eyes, and thought very carefully before replying.  
He could tell he’d have to handle this… Delicately. 

“Look. I won’t pretend to know why you’re doing this, but you know what you’re saying is untrue.”

A long pause before the next reply. 

“Why… Would you say that?” 

It was quickly followed by another. 

“Why would you pretend it didn’t happen? ISN’T happening? Why are you trying to make me out to be a liar? Do you think I’m BENEATH you or something?” 

Gerard typed fast. 

“No, no, of course I don’t think you’re beneath me! You know I respect young women very much, I respect my fans very much, I love you all dearly.   
But what you’re saying about me, about what we did, about your baby, is not true.   
And you know it.”

The back and forth became fast then, frantic. Frank watched in cold-fear fuelled silence.  
This was going badly, very badly. 

“How can you say you respect us, if you are here telling me you have no recollection of our night together? Are you saying you don’t remember me?” 

“NO! I remember you, I mean, I remember meeting you, outside the show. But we did not sleep together that night, you were never at our hotel.” 

“Yes I was. You invited me, and you came on to me, and we had sex. And you forgot the condom, and now I’m pregnant. It’s that simple, daddy.”

“Stop this! Stop this right now! Take it back!”  
A pause, then Gerard added.   
“Please, please, I’m begging now. Just take it back, admit you lied, please, you have no idea what you’re doing.” 

“Doing to YOU? I’m the one who is pregnant, with your child. You’re the one who did the ‘doing’.” 

“No! You’re not. You can’t be, you are not having my child.” 

“… Are you asking me to get rid of it?” 

“I- what?!”

“You are. You’re asking me to get an abortion, that’s what this is! This denial is just a clever way to get me to get rid of my baby, our baby.”

“You’re twisting my words.”

“Well, you can forget it! I am having this baby, and EVERYONE will know who the father is.”  
Another message came swiftly after,  
“And I’m going to make sure they know you tried to make me get rid of it.  
And I’ll stop telling the cute version of our night together.  
Time people knew the TRUTH, right Gerard?” 

Gerard started typing back, but before he could send it, she’d blocked him.

For a long time, Gerard stared at the screen, at the blocked message.  
Frank had watched it all, and now he held Gerard tight, buried his face against Gerard’s shoulder.  
Angry, anguished sobs escaped him, tears staining Gerard’s sleeve.  
“I’m sorry.” Frank said. “I’m sorry, I thought it’d make things better.” 

Slowly, Gerard put the phone down, and stretched out, guiding Frank to lay with him.   
“I know you were only trying to help. I appreciate that.” Gerard told him, softly. 

“I’d do anything if I thought it would end this for you, Gee.”   
Gerard nodded, and stroked his hair.  
“I know.” He said.   
“I wish you could.”


	3. The Repercussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rumour continues to spiral, and more layers are added to it, to devastating effects.  
> The boys end up with a tough decision to make, one that will, no matter what, end up making a huge impact on the band.

The next day was a rest day, but it barely felt like that at all.

They were meant to go to an interview, and despite all the coaxing from everyone, Gerard refused to go.

“I can’t… I can’t take it. You know what they’ll ask about, I can’t deal with it.”   
Frank shook his head, taking Gerard’s hands in his own. “If they ask, we don’t have to answer. Or we can tell them beforehand, we’re not answering questions about that, simple. Simple, Gee.”

Gerard shook his head. “If they ask, and I refuse to answer, how… How will that look? I’ll just look even more guilty.”  
“Well then, maybe, do answer, and tell them the truth, again? Surely the more you say it, the more likely they’ll… Listen.” Ray offered. 

“He shouldn’t have to.” Mikey said, tightly. “They should fucking trust him.”   
“Please, Gee.” Frank coaxed, gently, he smiled, falteringly. “How are we gonna get through an interview without you anyway?”   
Gerard shrugged, pulled his hands away from Frank’s. “Guess you’re gonna find out.”

Frank tried to protest, insisting that if Gerard wasn’t going, he wasn’t going.

Their manager was having none of that.

He’d already blown up at both Frank and Gerard, again that morning, after Gerard showed him the conversation with the girl.

_“ It’s like you WANT to make things worse!”_He’d yelled at them both.

Then he’d taken their phones, demanded their twitter details, and locked them both out of their accounts.

Frank, naturally, had protested, strongly.

_“ If you are both going to act like children, and cause trouble online, then I will treat you like children and take it away from you.”_Their manager responded, calmly.

Frank continued to grumble, but Gerard was far past caring.

Now, their manager seemed close to the point of screaming at Frank again.

“If Gerard wants to sit this one out, fine, in fact, I’m with him on this, maybe it is a good idea. But _you_ are going. ”

“So you _want_ Gerard to look guilty? Is that what you’re saying? Because isn’t that what this looks like? By staying out of sight, by hiding away, doesn’t that make him look guilty?” Frank argued.

He knew Gerard could still hear him, and part of him was so, so sorry for it. But another part wanted to make Gerard snap out of it, change his mind.

“By hiding he does not look guilty.” His manager said, simply. Then he added, noticeably sadder. “He just looks scared.”

Then he walked off, not allowing any further discussion.

##

While the others went, Gerard got himself settled in to his latest hotel room.

The bed was nice, and soft, and he found himself able to sit and read for a while. He felt calm, a little normal again for the first time in the last couple of days.

He wasn’t aware of how much time had passed, glad of it, pleased to be out of the time loop for once.

Then his phone buzzed.

He found a message from Mikey. At first he smiled.

Then he read the message, and he felt his body run cold.

‘I’m so sorry, Gee. It just got worse. A whole lot worse.’

His hands were shaking as he tried to reply, before he could, another message came through. This time from Frank.

‘That evil little bitch just posted a new blog. It’s everywhere already. The magazine already knew, we got pulled out of the interview because they asked about it.’

He replied to both, asking what the blog said.

He got no reply from Frank, and Mikey’s reply was only short.

‘We’re nearly back, Gee. We’ll explain then.’

One final message came through, this time from Ray.

‘I promise we’ll stick by you through this. We’ll get through it together.’

And that was what finally tipped him over. That was when he understood how bad it had truly gotten. Frank was overprotective and quick to defend him, so perhaps he was exaggerating the situation. Mikey, obviously, would equally worry more than might be needed.

Ray was the level headed one.

If he was worried, Gerard knew he really was in trouble.

##

Within half an hour, the four of them were all in the room with Gerard, all crowding round him on the bed as their manager perched on the arm of the armchair, which he’d pulled up to the end of the bed.

Frank sat on one side of Gerard, one hand holding his, while the other rubbed Gerard’s arm. Mikey sat the other, leaning against his brother, head tipped towards him. While Ray sat at Gerard’s feet. The closeness perhaps not as intimate as that of his other two band mates, but still undeniable. 

They all knew by now what had been said, but Gerard still didn’t. As soon as they’d walked in the door, he’d started crying, overwrought with worry and stress, he hadn’t been able to hold it together. He’d only just calmed down enough.

“Tell me what she’s said.” Gerard said, his voice extremely quiet. 

“She’s changed the story.” Their manager said, calmly. 

“Which you’d think would be enough for people to call her out as a liar!” Frank snapped. 

Gerard closed his eyes, and raised a hand to Frank’s arm.

“That’s enough, Frank.”

Their manager continued.

“She’s said that… The original story was the version she wanted people to believe. And that… Now she wants people to know the truth after all.”  
  
“She said you told her to get an abortion.” Mikey said, gently.

“She manipulated the private conversation you had last night, so it looks like that’s what you said, she’s using it as proof!” Frank’s voice was coming out slightly hysterical. 

Frank’s hand gripped Gerard’s slightly tighter.

“But that’s not…”  
  
“That’s not all.” Mikey finished for him. 

“No, it’s not.” Their manager said.

“Gerard, I’m afraid she’s saying something… Even more serious.”

Gerard closed his eyes tighter. He knew, he knew what was coming, and yet, still, he didn’t want to believe it could be happening. 

“Gerard. She’s calling it rape.”  
  
The shaking started then, and Gerard pulled his hand from Frank’s, covered his face.

The first sob wracked his body, even as he tried to hold it back. And then he dissolved entirely, leaning into Mikey, who held him, carefully, running his hand back through Gerard’s hair, over and over again. 

Their manager stood then. “At the moment… It’s only on the internet. But… Gerard, I need you to understand, if she decides to take this to the cops-”  
  
“Let her try!” Frank snapped, getting to his feet now. “Let her fucking try! There is NO case against Gerard! He’s done nothing wrong! They’ll figure out she’s fucking nuts in a second!”   
  
“Frank. It might not be-”  
  
“And it’s not like he doesn’t have an alibi! Me, I’m his fucking alibi!”   
  
“Frank-”   
  
“You should just let me tell everyone anyway! That’ll fucking shut everyone up, wouldn’t it? Everyone would be too fucking busy loosing their shit about me and Gerard, this girl will be so forgotten it’ll be like it never happened!”  
  
“Frank. I have explained why not before, now is not the time-”  
  
“Now is the perfect time.” Frank interrupted, his jaw set, hands in tight fists. 

“Frank.” Ray said, gently. 

Finally, Frank stopped, and turned to look at Ray.

Ray nodded his head towards the two brothers.

Gerard had all but crawled onto Mikey’s lap, curled up tight, head buried against Mikey’s chest.

The sobbing looked painful, shaking his whole body, a hand clasped against his mouth to try and silence himself. Mikey was curled around his brother, protectively. His eyes were closed, but the tears still ran from them.

Frank crawled back onto the bed, moved carefully behind Gerard, a hand on his back.

Gerard snatched the hand immediately, yanking it forward, pulling Frank closer.

Their manager left, without another word, while Ray also edged closer, until they were, all three, surrounding Gerard, protectively. Wishing they could truly protect him from this.

##

Gerard said very little all day, and when the others tried to ask him to, he refused to leave the room.

It was late in the afternoon, and Ray had gone down in search of food and drink, dragging a very reluctant Frank with him as he did, leaving only the two brothers in the room now.

Both laid out on the bed, Gerard with his head on Mikey’s chest. His tears had stopped, but there was still a trail on his cheeks. 

“Can I see it?” Gerard asked, quietly. “Can I see… What she’s said about me?”

“No.” Mikey told him, flat. 

“Please, Mikey, I… Have to know.”

“No.” Mikey repeated, his voice coming out more strained, sounding like it was coming out through gritted teeth. “You don’t have to know the poisonous lies she’s telling.”

  
“ You trust they ’ re lies, then? ” Gerard asked, softly. 

“I- What?! Gerard, why- why would you ask me that? Of course I know they’re lies! Frank said-”  
  
“What if Frank hadn’t been with me that night?” Gerard challenged. “What if that were one of the few times… Frank wasn’t with me, or… If he said he fell asleep early. What if there was no one else to say I didn’t- That I didn’t sleep with that girl?”

Mikey sat up, forcing Gerard to do the same, holding his brothers face in both hands, making him look at him.

“Doesn’t matter. I still wouldn’t believe a word of it. I know you, better than anyone. I know you couldn’t do this.”  
  
Gerard nodded, then leaned into Mikey.

“Let me see what she’s said, Mikes.”

　

Perhaps if he hadn’t already known that it would get worse, the first line of the girl’s new blog would’ve seemed almost hopeful. 

“Hello again everyone. I’m very sorry to tell you that, in my last post, I’m afraid I lied.”

But then it carried on.

“It was a selfless lie, though. I merely wanted to protect everyone’s idea of Gerard, and, really, I wanted to protect him. Though I know what he has done is wrong, I still believe he is not a bad person. But he has hurt me, badly. He denies ever being with me, while at the same time demanding I end my pregnancy.”

There was a revised version of the night explained.

How there had been no lead up. That as soon as she was in the room, Gerard had kissed her. No apology.

Immediately pushed onto the bed, hand up her skirt, while he undid his belt, jeans, and then shoved her hand down to touch him.

In this revised version, they still had sex three times.

They hadn’t been fully undressed for the first time, Gerard in too much of a hurry for that.

The second time he’d taken a while to get hard, and it had made her uncomfortable, watching him touch himself, getting her to touch him, getting her to touch herself while he watched.

The third time… She said she’d been falling asleep, exhausted. 

And he wouldn’t listen to ‘no’.

When she tried to push him away, he turned her over, onto her front, pinning her down, taking her from behind, even as she cried and told him no, tried to sit up, get away from him.

He’d hit her. 

And the sex was painful too.

He’d apologised after, and cried, saying he didn’t mean it. He didn’t know why he did that to her. 

The post ended with:

“He is not a bad person, or an evil person. But he has done an evil thing, I’m sorry to share this with you. But I felt the time to come clean was now.”

Gerard turned, so his face was buried against the pillow after he’d finished reading.

He felt so completely numb.

Mikey brushed his hair back again, gently, soothingly.

Gerard shrank away.

“Can- Can I ask to be… Left alone, please, Mikes?”  
  
Mikey shook his head, even though Gerard could not see. 

“Not a chance.”

##

The rest of the afternoon and evening passed, all four of them in the room together, none of them willing to leave Gerard alone for too long, all of them trying to keep his mind off… Everything. 

It worked to a certain extent, but they’d all catch odd moments, Gerard going quiet, seeming far off. They made it their mission to keep him firmly with them. 

Only when it got to the early hours, and Gerard looked on the edge of sleep, did Ray and Mikey get up to leave.

Frank asked, hesitantly if Gerard would prefer Mikey to stay with him tonight.

Gerard shook his head, eyes closing as his arms wrapped around Frank’s waist, pulling him closer.

Frank had to admit he was relieved, he wasn’t sure he could bring himself to spend a night apart from Gerard. But, if Gerard had asked, of course he wouldn’t have said no. 

So Mikey left, kissing his brothers cheek, telling him to get some rest, and telling Frank to look after him.

Frank promised he would.

They curled up beneath the covers, huddled close. Gerard tucked his head beneath Frank’s chin and sighed, something almost happy. 

“Thank you.” Gerard said quietly. “For being here.”   
Frank smiled, kissed the top of Gerard’s head. “Always will, Gee.”

Gerard looked up then, and smiled.

A soft kiss placed on Frank’s lips, and he smiled again, feeling content, feeling truly safe. 

Frank kissed him back, a little longer.

He could feel Frank’s smile against his lips, as a hand reached up to his hair, running through gently. He raised his own hand, to Frank’s cheek, as if he were holding their kiss very gently.

Frank pressed closer to him, and Gerard felt the kiss grow a little hotter, lips parting slightly, the briefest touch of tongue. He responded to it, though carefully still.

The hand in Gerard’s hair gripped a little more, and then Gerard could feel another hand, moving down, snagging the shirt he slept in, briefly touching his skin. 

Frank was quickly loosing his head, as much as he tried to hold back, he couldn’t. They hadn’t come close to this in two days, and though he understood, he thought, perhaps, perhaps this was what Gerard needed, to take his mind off it?   
_Just me, only me. There_ _’ s no one else. Nothing else matters. _

Their kisses were deep now, and, if he was honest, Gerard was getting lost in them, his mind entirely focused on them, on nothing else.

A soft, subtle wanting sound escaped Frank as he pressed himself closer to Gerard.

“Want you, want you so bad, Gee.” And his hand reached down, pressed between Gerard’s legs.

And that was when he was pushed away.

Frank opened his eyes, a small, confused frown creasing his brow, deepening as he saw Gerard had his eyes closed, slightly tight, his head very slightly turned away. Gerard’s hand gripped Frank’s wrist, holding it away.

“Don’t.” Gerard said, quietly. 

Frank opened his mouth to reply, but Gerard continued before he could. “I can- Kissing is fine, being close is fine but I can’t… Frank I can’t.”   
  
Frank sat up then, getting his wrist from out of Gerard’s grip, easily. He sighed as he pulled his legs up, wrapped his arms around them. He wasn’t looking at Gerard as he said, 

“This is about the new post, isn’t it?”   
  
“It’s about the whole thing.” Gerard replied, his voice very barely audible. 

Frank shook his head. “I don’t- Why? Gee, I know it’s horrible, and I know it’s effecting you, it’s effecting all of us, on some level, because we care about you, and we hate to see you hurt like this but… I don’t- I’m sorry, I don’t understand why this should effect the way we… Are, together.”

Frank glanced beside him, where Gerard was still laying, still with his eyes closed. He’d turned over more though, further away from Frank again now. 

He swallowed, thickly a few times, before he could finally get any words out.

“She said I… Forced her. Frankie, there’s… People out there who now think I raped a girl.”   
  
“But you didn’t!” Frank exclaimed. Still, still this wasn’t making any sense to him. 

“I know that, and you know that! And we are the only two people in this room, in this bed, so-”   
  
“That‘s not the point!” Gerard finally opened his eyes, finally sat up and looked at Frank. “The point is, I can’t even _think_ about being with you, touching you, because, right now, anything to do with sex just makes me think about what’s being said about me! It reminds me that there are people who believe that I- I- Brought a girl back to my room, slept with her, then- then again, against her will. That I _hit_ her. That I _hurt_ her! And- and now they’re thinking she’s not the only one.”  
  
Frank clenched his jaw, tight. He hated this, hated the effect this was having on Gerard, what it was doing to him. 

He could feel his eyes stinging with tears he didn’t want to let free. 

It didn’t help that he could see, once again, too many times over the last couple of days, Gerard was close to tears again too. 

Frank shook his head. “It’s lies, all lies Gee, we know it.”  
  
Gerard sank back down onto the bed, shifted closer to Frank.

“I get it… I get that people talk about me, about all of us. That they gossip and believe all kinds of things. Most of the time I don’t- I mean, I just let it wash over me. It’s gonna happen so.. Fine. I guess in some ways it might even be helpful to them. If they’re discussing… Our sexualities or whatever, maybe, maybe it’s helping them with their own identity? Or, helping them understand it better, I don’t know.”  
To this, Frank grinned, and nudged Gerard. “Kinda hilarious that they’re actually right about us, huh?”

At that, Gerard managed to grin, just slightly. “Half right, you mean? They think we’re both gay.”   
Frank rolled his eyes, and sighed deeply. “Must we _always_ make the ‘bisexual’ pun, Gee?”

He moved down then, to lay beside Gerard again. “Anyway, speak for yourself. You might be bi. I’m straight, with a very noticeable and exclusive exception.”

Gerard’s turn to roll his eyes, as he reached out, wrapping his arms around Frank and pulling him a little close. “Would you quit that? Embrace your bisexuality.”  
Frank grinned, and carefully placed the smallest kiss on Gerard’s lips. “I’ll stick to embracing my bisexual boyfriend, thanks.”

They both smiled at each other, feeling happier, a little more comfortable again. Things felt more normal than they had since Gerard came back from the signing.

Then Gerard was frowning. A deep-in-thought frown.

“We should come out.”

Frank blinked at him. “We- What?!”

“You were right.” Gerard continued, nodding slightly along with his own words. “When you said we should… Come out and say we’re together. And- Say that we were together that night. People- The fans. They’ll listen to that, right?” He looked up, his eyes a little bit wide now. Eager, earnest. 

Now it was Frank’s turn to frown. “Yeah… We’ve _both_ said that was what we should do. But- We were both shot down, told not to. Gee, I’m not sure we want to upset-”  
  
“What if it’s the only way to clear my name?”

Then, a very small mischievous grin played on Gerard’s lips, not quite his usual, more like a shadow of his normal grin, but it was something. “And, anyway, since when did we always do what we were told?”   
  
Frank raised an eyebrow. “Me? Never. You? Almost all the time.”

He paused again, thinking carefully. “I just… Gee. I know we both said about it, and it sounded easy, but, are you sure this is how you want… Us outed? Like this, under these circumstances?”

Before Gerard could answer, there was a rapid, impatient knock at the door.

Frank got up, quickly, and saw, once again, their manager at the door.

He looked more tired than ever, his eyes a little too wide, possibly from too much caffeine. His hair looked like he’d run his hands through it too many times.

Frank stepped aside to let him in without being asked.

  
Gerard sat up, fresh nerves and dread hitting him as he saw the state of their manager.

He knew it before it was even said.

“Things just got a bit more serious, again, Gee.” The shortened version of Gerard’s name sounded like he was just too tired to get more syllables out. 

Frank slipped back onto the bed, beside Gerard, edging close, an arm around him, both hands gently taking Gerard’s. 

Gerard’s returning grip was much tighter. 

“The girl’s family has got involved. They-” A tired sigh. “They contacted the label, apparently demanding you take responsibility for the girls child. They say… If you don’t. They’re looking to press charges. For-”   
Another pause, the managers eyes pinching closed. He didn’t need to finish the sentence, they all knew.   
“Rape.”  
Frank squeezed Gerard gently as he fell forward. 

Gerard’s vision went blurry, his head spinning, he felt sick. He clutched Frank’s hands even tighter, trying to pull him closer, even though it was impossible for Frank to get much closer. 

“Gerard, listen to me, carefully. We’re not going to let that happen, okay? We’re not going to let any of this get even close to court, so-”  
  
“But he could still be arrested!” Frank blurted, his voice shaking as much as it was loud. “If they go to the cops, they can’t- they can’t just ignore that!”   
  
“Frank. Please, just calm down.”  
  
“NO! This manipulative bitch is trying to ruin my boyfriend’s life. I’m not going to fucking calm down!”  
  
Gerard closed his eyes, letting this all happen around him, trying to distance himself. 

But all he could come back to was an imagined image of a jail cell.

Their manager was ignoring Frank, focusing back on Gerard now.

“Gerard, we are going to make sure this never even gets to the point where you might be arrested, okay? We are going to deal with this before they get the chance. I’ve just been on the phone… Conference call from the label. They will handle this. But…”   
  
Gerard looked up, not feeling good about that ‘but’. 

“It’s been decided that, until this is all cleared up… We’re putting the tour on hold. We still have to get travel sorted, but you’re going home as soon as we can fix it.”

“NO!” Frank exclaimed. “No! We cannot- We ARE NOT putting our tour on hold, and disappointing all those fans just because of some psycho bitch!”

The manager looked at Frank again, looking all the more tired again. “It’s for Gerard’s safety, Frank. Do you understand how serious this has now gotten? If there is now talk of legal action, imagine how some of the fans are feeling? Do you really think it’s safe for Gerard to get up there every night right now?”  
  
Frank’s mind flickered to their previous show, how dangerous it had felt, and that was before all this new shit had come about. 

“The only other alternative is… We carry on the tour, without Gerard.”   
  
“No!” Frank said, through gritted teeth. 

“Frank! Those are your options! Now, I’m sure the label would love it if you guys carried on the tour, it would mean no messy refunds for tickets, or trying to set up replacement schemes. But I think I know you guys better than that, and I know you guys would rather not get on stage at all than get on stage without Gerard at the helm.”

Frank scowled, looked away. He knew their manager was right, but he still didn’t like this. 

“Gerard? What do you want to do?” Their manager asked, gently. 

Gerard didn’t look up, he buried his face briefly against Frank’s shoulder. Then, so he could be heard, he raised his head very slightly. 

“Carry on the tour. Don’t disappoint the fans. I’ll go home. They’re not mad at everyone else. Only me. Everyone will be fine if… I go home.”  
  
Frank gripped his hand tighter. 

“If you go home, I’m coming with you.”   
  
Gerard laughed, humourlessly. “Don’t make them find two replacements.”

“Well who the fuck is gonna replace you?!”

Frank looked up at the manager again, his eyes wide, feeling bewildered and panicked. “We can’t replace Gerard! It’s not the same without him. And think of the questions! What do we say when they ask why Gee’s not with us?”   
  
The manager shrugged, and sighed heavily. “I don’t know… We can say he’s sick or something?”   
  
“Great. So more lies then.”

Another sigh from their manager. “Okay. I’m gonna go. Think this over, and we can properly decide what to do in the morning.”

He stood, and headed towards the door.

“I’m sorry it’s come to this, I really am. I don’t see how we could’ve done anything different though.”

The door had closed behind him before he heard Frank’s muttered reply. “We could’ve told the truth from the start…”

##

The two of them said nothing for hours.

Frank didn’t know what to say, there was nothing he could think of that could possibly make this better. 

And Gerard just wanted the silence to consume him. He wanted to believe he could just stay here, with Frank, and never have to deal with the decision that had to be made tomorrow.

Of course he didn’t want to go home, and leave his band mates to carry on the tour without him, and deal with all the questions they’d be asked in interviews, all the things fans would ask them. It was too much for them to have to deal with. 

But, equally, he couldn’t ask them all to pack up and end the tour. He couldn’t make that decision for them. He couldn’t do that to the fans who’d waited months to see them. This wasn’t their fault.

It was getting light out, and neither of them had slept. They’d moved back under the covers, and Gerard had curled up tight against Frank. Hands were held tightly, even though it ached, Frank wouldn’t let go until Gerard did, and Gerard felt like he couldn’t, like the grip he shared with Frank was the only thing keeping him from spiralling.

Gerard’s voice was thick, slightly cracked when finally he spoke again. 

“I don’t think I want to tell them… About us I mean. You were right. Not like this. Not because of this.”

Frank nodded. “Whatever you want, Gee.”   
Gerard buried his face against Frank’s chest again. His shoulders shook, but he didn’t cry. Not again. 

A few hours later, there was a soft knock on their door.

Mikey and Ray, still in pyjamas stood outside, and Frank let them in.

All back on the bed again. Mikey lent against his brother as the other two sat cross-legged the other side of Gerard.

Mikey explained they’d been told about the discussion with the label. And that Gerard didn’t have to worry about making a decision, they’d already made it. 

Gerard tried to protest. “I’m not making you quit the tour, I can’t ask that.”   
  
“You’re not asking. We’re telling you.” Mikey said, firmly. “If you’re going home, we’re all going home.” He glanced up at Frank, meeting his eyes as he added, “We stick together on this.”  
Frank nodded, a small smile tugging his lips. 

And, if Gerard was honest, he was relieved, relieved the decision was out of his hands. He looked at each of his band mates in turn, and saw there was no signs of hesitation or inclination to change their minds.

They were going home.

##

They were already on the plane when the message went up on the website.

Explaining the tour was to be put on hold, effective immediately.

It explained that those with tickets could either get refunds, or wait until replacement dates were arranged. There was the assurance that this was only a temporary set back, and that the band would return as soon as possible.

Making up for the previous night, Gerard slept through the flight, which was for the best for many reasons.

None of the others did, even though Frank was equally exhausted, he couldn’t shut off. 

None of them spoke about what had led up to this, though it swarmed through their minds. No one could quite believe that one, ridiculous lie had led to this.

When they landed back in the US, their manager handed over tickets for connecting flights and pointed out private cars waiting for their onward journeys.

And Frank quickly picked up on the fact that he was not heading home with Gerard.

“Frank! It’s too late to change it, we only just managed to get the flight booked. Please, just-”   
Their manager looked so weary, Frank felt sorry for him. 

But then he looked at Gerard and saw how fragile he looked, and realised he couldn’t even consider the idea of leaving him.

“You should’ve known I’d want to stay with Gerard! How did you not think about that?!”   
“Because, Frank, I was merely thinking about the quickest way to get you all home!”

“Frank.” Gerard’s voice was soft, and groggy, still half asleep. He held his arms out, and Frank happily went to him. 

“It’s okay, go home. Get some rest. We can… One of us can travel one way or the other in a couple of days, yeah?”

Frank shook his head. “I don’t want to leave you right now.”   
Gerard kissed his cheek. “I’ll be fine. I’ll miss you, but we’ll see each other soon?”  
Finally, Frank nodded.

He paused, then kissed Gerard, softly on the lips.

Their manager stared at them, then wildly around at the bustling people all around the airport, looking out for phones and cameras that might be out.  
But it seemed no one was paying attention. Everyone too worried about getting to their destinations to gawp at a couple of rock stars making out.

And, it could be considered, in their loose, slightly rumpled clothing, scuffed up trainers and more than tousled hair, the pair of them looked less like rock stars, and more like two ordinary guys, sharing a sweet, reluctant goodbye.

_They ’re only human. _Their manager thought. _Sometimes even I forget it._


	4. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The band have been home for nearly two weeks.   
> and Gerard hasn't left the house in that time.  
> Frank is with him, and at least making the time easier. 
> 
> But, just perhaps, there might be a light at the end of the tunnel...

Three days later, and Frank was back on a plane, this time only for a short distance.  
Though he badly wanted to see Gerard at the airport, he insisted it be Mikey that came and met him.   
In the three days since being home, Gerard hadn’t left the house, not even as far as his drive way. Every single one of his social media accounts remained untouched.   
If Frank hadn’t been able to keep contact with him through text, he would’ve assumed Gerard had gone completely off radar.   
What he didn’t know what that his were the only texts Gerard was currently answering.  
And he didn’t know that Gerard hadn’t even so much as looked at the internet for those three days either. 

He didn’t want to know what waited for him. He knew that things would be worse now. And they’d been awful before. 

Gerard was in the living room when Frank arrived. And as soon as he heard the bags drop, he came running into the hall.  
The embrace was tight. Both overwhelmed by how long three days felt. 

Frank was still locked out of his twitter account, but after some persuading (and making sure Gerard was safely preoccupied), Mikey allowed him a quick look on his own account.   
Nothing had changed, and Frank felt oddly disappointed. Somehow he’d hoped time would be enough to fix this.   
Perhaps not enough time had passed. 

Later that evening, Gerard sat upstairs, on the phone to their manager, who was relaying information from the label.   
Apparently it was a waiting game. They were waiting to see the response from the girl’s family, after being told that Gerard had no intentions of claiming responsibility for a child that is not his.   
Gerard said very little throughout the conversation, chewing at his nails, and the skin around his nails.  
“It’s all in hand, Gerard, I promise. But they can’t do anything until the family makes their next move.”   
Gerard replied with a small noise of agreement.   
“It’s taking longer than we expected, but perhaps that’s a good thing? Maybe they’re reconsidering taking serious action.”   
Another noise of agreement.   
There was a silence on the other end of the phone, to match Gerard’s now.   
“Have you been out at all yet?”   
“Nope.”   
“No one’s watching you, you know that, right?”   
“I’m not paranoid.” Gerard argued. “I just…” He sighed. “I just don’t feel like going outside.”  
“Fine… Is Frank with you yet?”   
To this, Gerard finally smiled. “Yeah, got here this afternoon.”  
“Well, that’s good, at least.”  
“Yeah, it is.” 

##

Another week passed, and still they were no further forward.  
There had been little communication from the girls family, and what there was was only vague. 

Frank stayed with Gerard, and didn’t try to push him to do anything or go anywhere he didn’t want to.   
He continued to look at what was happening online, and it continued to sadden him.   
He continued to hide it from Gerard, knowing he didn’t need to know what was being said.   
Gerard had seen it all already, it was just more of the same. And Frank felt powerless. 

Their nights were sweet at least. A time for just the two of them, in bed together, doing their best to forget why they were in this bed, in this house, and not in some hotel halfway across the world.   
Their tour would’ve been half way done by this point. Gerard tried not to tick off the dates in his head. 

Though the nights were calm, Frank felt this was when he had to try his hardest. This was still the one thing he wanted to ask of Gerard, but didn’t dare. They could kiss, they could touch, but he had to know the boundary. 

##

Nearly another full week, and Frank was sat on the end of the bed, reading through the latest comments on the message board.   
Their absence was being noted, and the fans were interpreting it exactly as they’d known they would. 

“Maybe Gerard’s gone to be with the girl through her pregnancy? Maybe he’s decided to support her after all?” 

“Sure… Or he’s gone into hiding because he’s ashamed of himself. Good thing too, least we know he has the grace to be ashamed, even if he is only sorry he got found out.   
… I wonder how long before we start hearing from others?” 

“Oh, fuck off the lot of you! We all know Gerard didn’t really do anything wrong! We all watched that video of his speech at the last gig, he was practically in tears when he saw that girls banner! 

In case we’ve all forgotten, I’ll post it again HERE”

“Yeah, yeah. Tears because he got found out.   
Or crocodile tears. Pretending he cares soooo much.” 

“Go fuck yourselves.” 

“Go find Gerard and get him to fuck you, you’re so far up his ass anyway!” 

 

Apparently the girl had posted a picture which had been so explicit in response to that, it had been taken down. 

Frank recognised the username of that girl, she’d been rational throughout this. It seemed maybe she was the only one still standing up for Gerard.   
And, sure, she wasn’t being the most mature about it, but… At least she was trying. 

Frank signed himself in, and briefly sent the girl a message.   
“Thank you.”

Then, he went where he knew he really should’ve done days ago.   
He sat back on the bed, and considered his words carefully before, finally, posting the blog message on their homepage.  
The first message on the site since the announcement of the cancelled tour. 

 

“Friends and onlookers.

You will be more than aware of our cancelled tour, I apologise to all that has been effected by this, and I can only offer you the promise we WILL BE BACK!   
What has not been addressed is the precise reason why this tour was stopped in it’s tracks, even though I’m sure you all believe you know why anyway. 

In any case, I will explain it now. 

A lie has been spread about Gerard, and it has had devastating effects. We were forced to end our tour because there was fear for Gerard’s safety had we chosen to continue.   
I hate to tell you all this, but yes, we were scared of what YOU might do to him.   
And, before you all start screaming that that is unfair, and that you would never hurt him, consider this.   
If one person calls Gerard a liar, do you all start to feel like it’s okay to call him that?   
And, if someone feels like they can call him something as disgusting as what I KNOW you have been saying about him (we’re all online remember folks, we do see it), everyone starts to feel like they can say that too.   
Now. Translate that to a live setting.   
One person starts calling out stuff at Gerard, then there’s a ripple effect.   
One person throws something, and it gets out of control. 

You see why we felt we needed to protect him? 

I need you to understand. Gerard is hurting now, and he is hurting because of what these ‘fans’ have done. He feels guilty for something he has not done, because he feels like he has let you all down. 

He hasn’t let anyone down.   
I think you all know who has let who down. 

I say this, with all sincerity of a man pleading to be listened to, for the sake of his friend.   
He’s done nothing wrong, I wish you would all just trust him on that.   
Trust me.

xoxofrnk”

He posted it, then linked it up with his twitter, and posted it there. (His account had been unlocked a few days previous, not that he’d used it for anything until now). 

Then he went downstairs, and found Gerard on the couch, feet up as he read a book.   
Frank came and joined him, picking up Gerard’s feet to rest in his lap. 

##

Two hours later, Gerard was pulled out of his fantasy world by a buzzing he at first could not quite make fit in his own world.   
He’d stopped getting messages a couple of days ago, after people finally got the hint he wasn’t going to reply.

It was from Mikey, and it said, simply:   
“Check twitter.   
Trust me!” 

Gerard sat up, and showed Frank the message.   
Moments later, they both had their own pages up.  
It didn’t take long to see what Mikey had been talking about. 

Both their mentions were full, again. But, now, the tone was entirely different.   
It seemed like every icon had either Gerard’s face, or a simple ‘G’ inside a heart.   
And then there were the hash tags.   
On first glance it seemed the most prominent ones were: 

#WeLoveYouGerard!  
#WereSorryGerard  
#WeTrustYou!

Gerard looked up at Frank, and saw the massive grin on his face.   
“Wha- What did you do?” Gerard stuttered, in amazement.   
Frank looked up, shrugged, smiling shyly. “I guess… I finally got through to them?” 

Then they noticed a link circulating, one that was not a link to Frank’s message.   
Frank grabbed the laptop, so they could both see at once, and opened up the page. 

At first glance, you’d never recognise the blog as the one that had started all this mess, but, looking closely, you could still see the old title in the address, and all the links that had been there before, including links to the previous two posts.   
Everything else had been stripped back though. 

And there was a new message. 

‘Hello everyone. This is Elle, I’m Jemma’s older sister, and I wanted to apologise for the mess she’s created, and try to clear things up after her. 

First of all, I apologise to the entire My Chemical Romance fandom, I understand that the things she has said have caused a lot of uproar, and potentially quite a bit of pain to you all. 

And, of course I apologise to Warner, for the bogus communication that Jemma sent, pretending to be our parents. I have already contacted Warner personally, and assured them that whatever my little sister threatened, it is in no way going to be followed through. 

I apologise to the other members of My Chemical Romance, for the upheaval of their tour, and the distress they’ve no doubt been through. 

And most of all, I apologise to Gerard Way. I’m afraid my sister was scared, confused, and more than a little unbalanced, and has been swept away with her own lie. I know well all the good you do, sir, and I fear it has been my own admiration of your band, and you specifically that led my sister to latch onto you in such a way. I apologise from the bottom of my heart for any and all distress and pain this has all caused you. You deserved none of it. 

To set the record straight:   
My little sister is pregnant, but the baby is not Gerard’s.   
She did meet Gerard after a concert, but she was not invited back to his hotel.   
Gerard did NOT sleep with her. 

That is all. Thank you, and sorry again. Rest assured, I am dealing with everything as swiftly as I can. 

Please spread this around so everyone sees! Thanks!’

Gerard read it over, twice, before looking up at Frank, who was already smiling so much his cheeks ached. 

Gerard’s eyes were filled with tears, but, finally, a smile tugged at his lips, feeling a little painful, but in such a good way.  
“It’s… It’s over?”   
Frank nodded.   
“It’s… Really over?”   
Again, Frank nodded, his own eyes filling with relief.  
Gerard practically fell against him, arms going around each other, tight.   
Frank flicked the screen so that it showed Gerard’s twitter once again, and let it load all the messages of love and apologies. All the hearts and the hash tags of support and solidarity. 

Gerard raised his head, and kissed Frank, softly at first, then a little deeper.  
And Frank more than happily allowed himself to be pushed down onto the couch, laid out beneath Gerard. His hands reached up to Gerard’s hair, holding him close, while Gerard’s hand cupped Frank’s face, the other reaching down to very slightly lift up his top, fingers grazing beneath it. 

And still the page loaded with more messages. More icons changed to Gerard’s face.   
More hash tags started, and a couple even trended, briefly.   
Of course, there was the odd post that still held on to the rumour, and still called Gerard disgusting names, but though persistent, they were drowned out by the clamour of support (and guilt of not trusting Gerard all along). 

They had always understood it, but it was now ever more apparent. Their fandom was a force. A wave, one that can turn so quickly.  
But sometimes, just sometimes, that tide can turn back.   
You just have to be strong enough to ride it out.


End file.
